In 2008 three Parish Priests from Northern Ireland hit the headlines when they signed a three album recording contract with Sony Epic Records for £1.4 million.
Their debut album sold more than 1.6 million records and entered the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest selling debut classical album of all time. A record they retain to this day.
In this documentary Fathers Martin and Eugene O’Hagan and Father David Delargy, and the record executives who signed them reveal the real story of how ‘The Priests’ were discovered and catapulted to fame, how they juggled their Parish duties with recording sessions and concerts around the world and why after 17 years they are calling time on their musical career.
In 2008 President of Sony Epic records, Nick Raphael was looking for one Priest to sing the Latin Mass, when he heard Fathers Martin, Eugene and David sing together he immediately signed all three. “There are certain things you look for in a recording artist. The Priests ticked none of the boxes, but when you see something that is magic, you break all the rules”.
The Priests had been singing together since they were school boys at St MacNissi’s College, Co Antrim but nothing could have prepared them for the world of the music industry they were about to enter. Nor could they have guessed that they would be the public face of the Roman Catholic Church at a time when clerical abuse scandals were hitting the headlines.
Religious culture is not what it once was, Church attendance is dropping and so is the number of clergy, yet the demands on those still in the job are increasing. After 50 years of singing together Frs David, Eugene and Martin prepare for their last ever concert as ‘The Priests’.
